15 a New Language of Form

15 A New Language of Form

During the postwar years, when Edward McKnight Kauﬀ er and A. M. Cassandre were applying synthetic cubism’s planes to the poster in England and France, a formal typographic approach to graphic design emerged in Holland and Russia, where artists saw clearly the implications of cubism. Visual art could move beyond the threshold of pictorial imagery into the invention of pure form. Ideas about form and composing space from the new painting and sculpture were quickly applied to problems of design. It would be a mistake, however, to say that modern design is a stepchild of the ﬁ ne arts. As discussed in chapter 12, Frank Lloyd Wright, the Glasgow group, the Vienna Secession, Adolf Loos, and Peter Behrens were all moving a heartbeat ahead of modern painting in their consciousness of plastic volume and geometric form at the turn of the century. A spirit of innovation was present in art and design, and new ideas were 15–1 in abundance. By the end of World War I, graphic designers, architects, and product designers were energetically challenging prevailing notions about form and function.

15–1. David and Vladimir Burliuk, Russian suprematism and constructivism pages from Vladimir Mayakovski: A Russia was torn by the turbulence of World War I and then Tragedy, 1914. In an effort to relate vi- the Russian Revolution in the second decade of the twentieth sual form to meaning, Russian futurist century. Czar Nicholas II (1868–1918) was overthrown and graphic design mixed type weights, executed along with his family. Russia was ravaged by civil sizes, and styles. war, and the Red Army of the Bolsheviks emerged victorious by 1920. During this period of political trauma, a brief flower- 15–2. Ilja Zdanevich, insert cover ing of creative art in Russia had an international influence on of Milliork, by Aleksei Kruchenykh, twentieth-century graphic design. Beginning with Marinetti’s 1919. Zdanevich’s cover illustrates Russian lectures, the decade saw Russian artists absorb cubism the inﬂ uence of Dada and futurism and futurism with amazing speed and then move on to new on the Russian avant-garde. innovations. The Russian avant-garde saw common traits in cubism and futurism and coined the term cubo-futurism. 15–3. Ilja Zdanevich, pages from Experimentation in typography and design characterized their Le-Dantyu as a Beacon, 1923. The futurist publications, which presented work by the visual and Burliuk brothers and the Dadaists literary art communities. Symbolically, the Russian futurist inspired Zdanevich’s playscript design, books were a reaction against the values of czarist Russia. the lively movements of which are cre- The use of coarse paper, handicraft production methods, and ated by mixing type sizes and styles handmade additions expressed the poverty of peasant society and building letters from letterpress as well as the meager resources of artists and writers. The poet ornaments. Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovski’s autobiographical play was printed in a dissonant futurist style designed by David 15–4. Vladimir Vladimirovich Maya- and Vladimir Burliuk (Fig. 15–1), becoming a model for works kovski, ROSTA Window poster, by others, including Ilja Zdanevich (Figs. 15–2 and 15–3). c. 1921. Such simple posters The Bolsheviks began a news agency, the Russian Telegraph spread the Bolshevik message to Agency (ROSTA) in 1917, immediately following the Rus- the largely illiterate population. sian Revolution. Two years later ROSTA posters began to be

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produced to support the Red Army in the civil war. Using straightforward pictorial designs, their goal was to portray the Bolshevik version of the new politics through the use of images. Crudely stenciled illustrations presented exaggerated historical and social events to appeal to a largely illiterate or semiliterate audience. Typical images included fancily dressed uncouth capitalists receiving punishment for what the Bolshe- viks considered their evil ways. Issued on separate sheets in a comic book form, they were commonly called ROSTA Windows. They appeared from the fall of 1919 until January 1922 and were hung in shop windows and other places where they would be easily seen. At first, they were hand-copied individual designs, but in the spring of 1920 they began to be produced using stencils, and one hundred copies could be produced in a single day. Mayakovski was closely linked with the ROSTA Windows, and his ﬁ rst ROSTA poster appeared in October 1919. Although Mayakovski did not choose the themes for the posters, they were based on his writing or approved by him, and close to one- third of the ROSTA illustrations were his designs (Fig. 15–4). Kasimir Malevich (1878–1935) founded a painting style of basic forms and pure color that he called suprematism. After working in the manner of futurism and cubism, Malevich created an elemental geometric abstraction that was new and totally nonobjective. He rejected both utilitarian function and pictorial representation, instead seeking the supreme “expression of feeling, seeking no practical values, no ideas, no promised land.” Malevich believed the essence of the art

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15–5. Kasimir Malevich, Black Square, 15–8. El Lissitzky, PROUN 23, no. 6, c. 1913. A new vision for visual art 1919. Lissitzky developed visual ideals is as far removed as possible from about balance, space, and form in his the world of natural forms and paintings, which became the basis for appearances. his graphic design and architecture.

15–7 15–6. Kasimir Malevich, Suprematist Composition, 1915. A symphonic arrangement of elemental shapes of luminous color on a white ﬁ eld becomes an expression of pure feeling.

15–7. Kasimir Malevich, cover of Pervyi tsikl lektsii (First Circle of Lec- tures), by Nikolai Punin. A suprematist composition is combined with typography, 1920.

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experience was the perceptual effect of color and form. To demonstrate this, perhaps as early as 1913 he made a composition with a black square on a white background (Fig. 15–5), asserting that the feeling this contrast evoked was the essence of art. In works such as the 1915 Suprematist Composition (Fig. 15–6), and the cover of Pervyi tsikl lektsii (First Circle of Lec- tures) (Fig. 15–7), Malevich created a construction of concrete elements of color and shape. The visual form became the content, and expressive qualities developed from the intuitive organization of the forms and colors. The Russian movement was actually accelerated by the revolution, for art was given a social role rarely assigned to it. Leftist artists had been opposed to the old order and its conservative visual art. In 1917 they turned their energies to a massive propaganda effort in support of the revolutionaries, but by 1920 a deep ideological split developed concerning the role of the artist in the new communist state. Some artists, including Malevich and Kandinsky, argued that art must 15–8 remain an essentially spiritual activity apart from the utilitarian needs of society. They rejected a social or political role, believing the sole aim of art to be realizing perceptions of the In 1919 Marc Chagall, principal of the art school in Vitebsk, world by inventing forms in space and time. Led by Vladimir located about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow, Tatlin (1885–1953) and Alexander Rodchenko (1891–1956), asked Lissitzky to join the faculty. Malevich was teaching twenty-five artists advanced the opposing viewpoint in 1921, there and became a major influence on Lissitzky, who devel- when they renounced “art for art’s sake” to devote themselves oped a painting style that he called PROUNS (an acronym for to industrial design, visual communications, and applied arts “projects for the establishment [affirmation] of a new art”). In serving the new communist society. These constructivists contrast to the absolute flatness of Malevich’s picture plane, called on the artist to stop producing useless things such as PROUNS (Fig. 15–8) introduced three-dimensional illusions paintings and turn to the poster, for “such work now belongs that both receded (negative depth) behind the picture plane to the duty of the artist as a citizen of the community who is (naught depth) and projected forward (positive depth) from clearing the field of the old rubbish in preparation for the new the picture plane. Lissitzky called PROUNS “an interchange life.” Tatlin turned from sculpture to the design of a stove that station between painting and architecture.” This indicates would give maximum heat from minimum fuel; Rodchenko his synthesis of architectural concepts with painting; it also forsook painting for graphic design and photojournalism. describes how PROUNS pointed the way to the application An early attempt to formulate constructivist ideology was of modern painting concepts of form and space to applied the 1922 brochure Konstruktivizm by Aleksei Gan (1893–1942). design. This is seen in his 1919 poster “Beat the Whites with He criticized abstract painters for their inability to break the Red Wedge” (Fig. 15–9). The space is dynamically divided the umbilical cord connecting them to traditional art and into white and black areas. Suprematist design elements are boasted that constructivism had moved from laboratory work transformed into political symbolism that even a semiliterate to practical application. Gan wrote that tectonics, texture, peasant can supposedly understand: Support for the “red” and construction were the three principles of constructivism. Bolshevik against the “white” forces of Aleksandr Kerensky is Tectonics represented the unification of communist ideology symbolized by a red wedge slashing into a white circle. with visual form; texture meant the nature of materials and Lissitzky saw the October 1917 Russian Revolution as how they are used in industrial production; and construction a new beginning for mankind. Communism and social symbolized the creative process and the search for laws of engineering would create a new order, technology would visual organization. provide for society’s needs, and the artist/designer (he called The constructivist ideal was best realized by the painter, himself a “constructor”) would forge a unity between art and architect, graphic designer, and photographer El (Lazar technology by constructing a new world of objects to provide Markovich) Lissitzky (1890–1941), an indefatigable visionary mankind with a richer society and environment. This idealism who profoundly influenced the course of graphic design. led him to put increasing emphasis on graphic design, as he At age nineteen, after being turned down by the Petrograd moved from private aesthetic experience into the mainstream Academy of Arts because of ethnic prejudice against Jews, of communal life. Lissitzky studied architecture at the Darmstadt, Germany, In 1921 Lissitzky traveled to Berlin and the Netherlands, school of engineering and architecture. The mathematical where he made contact with De Stijl, the Bauhaus, Dadaists, and structural properties of architecture formed the basis and other constructivists. In addition, he met the architect for his art. Hendricus Theodorus Wijdeveld (1885–1987) and designed

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15–9. El Lissitzky, “Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge,” 1919. The Bolshevik army emblem, a red wedge, slashes diagonally into a white sphere signifying Aleksandr Kerensky’s “white” forces. The slogan’s four words are placed to reinforce the dynamic movement.

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a cover for the magazine Wendingen in 1922 (see Fig. 15–59). and war; they saw Veshch as a meeting point for new works Postwar Germany had become a meeting ground for eastern from different nations. and western ideas advanced in the early 1920s. Access to excel- Lissitzky’s Berlin period enabled him to spread the con- lent German printing facilities enabled Lissitzky’s typographic structivist message through frequent Bauhaus visits, important ideas to develop rapidly. His tremendous energy and range of articles, and lectures. Major collaborations included the joint experimentation with photomontage, printmaking, graphic design and editing of a special double issue of Merz with Kurt design, and painting enabled him to become the main conduit Schwitters in 1924. The editors of Broom, a radical American through which suprematist and constructivist ideas flowed magazine covering advanced literature and art, commissioned into western Europe. Editorial and design assignments for title pages and other graphics from Lissitzky. A Broom cover several publications were important vehicles by which his layout (Fig. 15–12) shows Lissitzky’s practice of making layouts ideas influenced a wider audience. on graph paper, which imposed the modular structure and During the early 1920s the Soviet government offered of- mathematical order of a grid upon his designs. Advertisements ficial encouragement to the new Russian art and even sought and displays were commissioned by the Pelikan Ink Company to publicize it through an international journal (Figs. 15–10 (Fig. 15–13). Rebelling against the constraints of metal type- and 15–11). Editor Ilya Ehrenburg (1891–1967) was joined by setting, Lissitzky often used drafting-instrument construction Lissitzky in creating the trilingual journal Veshch (Russian)/Ge- and paste-up to achieve his designs. In 1925 he predicted that genstand (German)/Objet (French). The title (meaning “object”) Gutenberg’s system of printing would become a thing of the was chosen because the editors believed that art meant the past and that photomechanical processes would replace metal creation of new objects, a process for building a new collective type and open new horizons for design as surely as radio had international approach led by young European and Russian replaced the telegraph. artists and designers. Lissitzky constructed his cover designs As a designer, Lissitzky did not decorate the book—he on a dynamic diagonal axis with asymmetrical balancing of constructed it by visually programming the total object. In elements, the weight placed high on the page. Lissitzky and a 1923 book of Vladimir Mayakovski’s poems, For the Voice, Ehrenburg realized that parallel yet isolated art and design also translated as For Reading Out Loud, Lissitzky designed movements had evolved during the seven-year period of exclusively with elements from the metal typecase, set by separation when Europe and Russia were bled by revolution a German compositor who knew no Russian (Figs. 15–14

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15–10. El Lissitzky, cover for Veshch, 1922. Mechanical drawing instruments were used to construct geometric letterforms in a different style for each title; small typeset type was pasted in for plating.

15–11. El Lissitzky, title page for Veshch, 1922. Lissitzky searched for a geometric organizational system relat- ing type, geometric elements, and photographs as elements in a whole. These goals were achieved by 1924.

15–12. El Lissitzky, layout for a Broom cover, vol. 5, no. 3, 1922. Isometric perspective letterforms are upside down and backward in the second title presentation, achieving a subtle vitality in a rigorously symmetrical design.

15–13. El Lissitzky, poster for Pelikan ink, 1924. This photogram was produced in the darkroom by placing objects directly on the photographic paper and then making the exposure by ﬂ ashing a light held to the left.

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through 15–16). He said his intent was to interpret the poems as “a violin accompanies a piano.” A die-cut tab index along the right margin helped the reader find a poem. Each poem’s title spread is illustrated with abstract elements signifying its content. Spatial composition, contrast between elements, the relationship of forms to the negative space of the page, and an understanding of such printing possibilities as overlapping color were important in this work. One of the most influential book designs of the 1920s was The Isms of Art 1914–1924, which Lissitzky edited with the Dadaist Hans Arp. Lissitzky’s format for this book was an important step toward the creation of a visual program for organizing information (Fig. 15–17). The three-column horizontal grid structure used for the title page (Fig. 15–18) and the three-column vertical grid structure used for the text (Fig. 15–16 15–19) became an architectural framework for organizing the forty-eight-page pictorially illustrated portfolio (Fig. 15–20). 15–14. El Lissitzky, cover of For the 15–15. El Lissitzky, pages from For Asymmetrical balance, silhouette halftones, and a skillful use Voice, by Vladimir Vladimirovich the Voice showing illustration for of white space are other important design considerations. By Mayakovski, 1923. In contrast to the poem “Left March,” by Vladimir using large, bold sans-serif numbers to link the pictures to the Veshch cover, constructed on a Vladimirovich Mayakovski, 1923. The captions listed earlier, Lissitzky allows the numbers to become diagonal axis, here a rigid right angle monumental presence of Lissitzky’s compositional elements. This treatment of sans-serif typog- is animated by the counterbalance of dynamic word images belies the small raphy and bold rules is an early expression of the modernist the M and circles. size of this book. aesthetic. Lissitzky utilized photomontage for complex communica- 15–16. El Lissitzky, pages from For tions messages (Figs. 15–21 and 15–22). On a poster for a the Voice, by Vladimir Vladimirovich Russian exhibition in Switzerland, the image (Fig. 15–23) Mayakovski, 1923. The poem title gives equal position to the female and the male, a significant “Order for the Army of the Arts” symbolic communication in a traditionally male-dominated appears on the right page opposite a society. dynamic constructivist design. After returning to Russia in 1925, Lissitzky spent increasing amounts of time with large exhibition projects for the 15–17. El Lissitzky, book cover for Soviet government in addition to publications, art direction, The Isms of Art, 1924. Complex typo- some architectural design projects, and extensive correspon- graphic information is organized into dence (Figs. 15-24 and 15–25). His eighteen-year battle with a cohesive whole by the construction tuberculosis had begun two years before. In December 1941, of structural relationships. six months after Germany invaded Russia, Lissitzky died. Through his social responsibility, his mastery of technology

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15–18. El Lissitzky, title page for The 15–19. El Lissitzky, text format for The 15–20. El Lissitzky, pictorial spread Isms of Art, 1924. The graphic spirit Isms of Art, 1924. Rigorous verticals from The Isms of Art, 1924. The grid achieved by medium-weight sans-serif separate German, French, and English systems of the preceding typographic type, mathematical division of the texts, and horizontal bars emphasize pages are echoed in the placement of space, white areas, and bold rules an important introductory quotation. the images, which are one, two, and established a typographic standard three columns wide. for the modern movement.

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15–21. El Lissitzky, cover of Zapisky poeta (Notes of a Poet), by Ilia Selvin- skii, 1928. Using photomontage, Lis- sitzky combined positive and negative images of the poet.

15–22. El Lissitzky, cover of Arkhitek- tura (Architecture), 1927. The strong structural properties of the composi- 15–23 tion suggest Lissitzky’s architectural training.

15–23. El Lissitzky, exhibition poster, 1929. In this stark, powerful image, the youth of a collective society are cloned into an anonymous double portrait above the exhibition structure designed by Lissitzky.

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to serve his goals, and his creative vision, El Lissitzky set a standard of excellence for a designer. Later, typographer Jan Tschichold wrote, “Lissitzky was one of the great pioneers. . . . His indirect influence was widespread and enduring. . . . A generation that has never heard of him . . . stands upon his shoulders.” Like Lissitzky, Alexander Rodchenko was an ardent communist who brought an inventive spirit and willingness to ex- periment to typography, montage, and photography. His early interest in descriptive geometry lent an analytical precision and definition of form to his paintings. In 1921 Rodchenko abandoned painting and turned to visual communication because his social views called for a sense of responsibility to society instead of to personal expression. Collaborating closely with Mayakovski, Rodchenko produced page designs with strong geometric construction, large areas of pure color, and concise, legible lettering. His heavy sans-serif hand-lettering engendered the bold sans-serif types that were widely used in the Soviet Union. 15–24 In 1923 Rodchenko began to design a magazine for all fields of the creative arts, entitled Novyi lef (Left Front of the Arts) (Figs. 15–26 through 15–28). A design style based on strong, static horizontal and vertical forms placed in machine- rhythm relationships emerged. Overprinting, precise registration, and photomontage were regularly employed in Novyi lef. Rodchenko delighted in contrasting bold, blocky type and hard-edged shapes against the softer forms and edges of photomontages. His interest in photomontage was a conscious effort to innovate an illustration technique appropriate to the twentieth century. The beginning of Russian photomontage coincided with the development of montage in film—a new conceptual approach to assembling cinematic information—and shared some of its vocabulary. Common techniques

15–24. El Lissitzky, letter to Katherine Dreier, 1926. Lissitzky’s letterhead was also a constructivist statement.

15–25. El Lissitzky, exhibition design for Pressa, 1928. Light, sound, and motion become design elements. Belts symbolic of web printing are in continuous movement in this publishing-industry design.

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15–26. Alexander Rodchenko, cover 15–27. Alexander Rodchenko, cover 15–28. Alexander Rodchenko, cover 15–29. Alexander Rodchenko, paper- for Novyi lef, no. 1, 1923. The logo is for Novyi lef, no. 2, 1923. In this for Novyi lef, no. 3, 1923. A biplane back book covers for the Jim Dollar printed in tight registration, with the early photomontage, the montage is bearing the magazine logo drops series, 1924. Consistency is achieved top half of the letterforms red and the crossed out, negating the old order; a fountain-pen bomb at a gorilla through standardized format; mon- bottom half black. young children symbolize the new representing the traditional arts of the tages illustrate each story. society. czarist regime.

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included showing simultaneous action; superimposing images; using extreme close-ups and perspective images, often to- gether; and rhythmically repeating an image. The concept of serial painting—a series or sequence of inde- pendent works unified by common elements or an underlying structure—was applied to graphic design by Rodchenko. In 1924 his series of ten covers for the Jim Dollar (pseudonym for the well-known Soviet author Marietta Shaginian) “Miss Mend” books (Fig. 15–29) used a standard geometric format printed in black and a second color. The title, number, second color, and photomontage change with each edition, conveying the uniqueness of each book. The standardized elements bring consistency and economy to the whole series. As seen in the work of Salomon Telingater (1903–69), a dash of Dadaist vitality was often mixed into constructivist designs (Fig. 15–30). A witty originality informed Telingater’s use of typography and montage elements. Georgii (1900–33) and Vladimir Augustovich (1899–1982) Stenberg were talented brothers who collaborated on theatri- cal designs and film posters (Figs. 15–31 through 15–33). Mindful of the reproduction difficulties with photographs at the time, they made meticulously realistic drawings for their posters by enlarging film-frame images via projection and grid methods. These three-dimensional illusions were contrasted with flat forms of bright color in dynamic, well-designed posters conveying strong, direct messages. The master of propaganda photomontage was Gustav Klutsis (1895–1944), who referred to the medium as “the art construction for socialism.” Employing monumental and heroic images, Klutsis used the poster as a means for extolling Soviet accomplishments (Figs. 15–34 through 15–37). His work has often been compared to John Heartfield’s powerful 15–30 political statements. It is highly likely that Klutsis was familiar with Heartfield’s work, which was exhibited in Russia during the 1930s. Klutsis was convinced that photomontage was the medium of the future and that it had rendered all other forms of artistic realism obsolete. Although most of his posters celebrated the achievements of Stalin, Klutsis’s uncompromis- ing avant-garde approach eventually caused him to be arrested in 1938 during the Stalinist purges. He perished in the labor camps in 1944. Another Soviet artist associated with Tatlin and the constructivists who profoundly influenced Russian modernism was Vladimir Vasilevich Lebedev (1891–1967). He embraced Bolshevism and designed bold, flat, neoprimitivist agitational propaganda posters for ROSTA, the Soviet news agency. This work proved to be excellent preparation for designing picture books for children. Lebedev learned to simplify, to reduce forms to their basic geometric shapes, to use only brilliant 15–30. Salomon Telingater, cover primary colors, and to tell a story visually and in sequence. “In for Slovo predstavliaetsia Kirsanovu the twenties,” he explained, “we fought for mastery and purity (The Word Belongs to Kirsanov), by K. of art; we wanted fine art to be descriptive, not illustrative. Kirsanov, 1930. The author’s whimsy Cubism gave us discipline of thought, without which there is reﬂ ected in Telingater’s rollicking is neither mastery nor purity of professional language.” With typography, which changes tune, the growth of the Soviet children’s book industry under tempo, and key as it ﬂ ows down the Lenin’s New Economic Policy of the 1920s, Lebedev became page.

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15–31. Georgii and Vladimir Augus- 15–33. Georgii and Vladimir Au- tovich Stenberg, fi lm poster for The gustovich Stenberg, fi lm poster for Man with the Movie Camera, 1929. The General, 1929. The Stenberg Spatial dislocation is achieved by brothers produced this clever poster extreme perspective, circular type, for an American fi lm, staring Buster and the fragmented fi gure. Keaton, about a Civil War soldier who repeatedly crossed the front lines in a 15–32. Georgii and Vladimir Augus- locomotive. tovich Stenberg, fi lm poster for The Eleventh Year of the Revolution, 1928. The images refl ected in the worker’s glasses illustrate the development of Soviet industry. 15–33

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15–34. Gustav Klutsis, Spartakiada postcard, 1928. Using photomontage, Klutsis designed this postcard to promote a large sporting event.

15–35. Gustav Klutsis, “We Will Repay the Coal Debt to the Country,” poster, 1930.

15–36. Gustav Klutsis, “Everyone Must Vote in the Election of Soviets,” series poster, 1930. This same montage was used for various campaigns.

15–37. Gustav Klutsis, “In the Storm of the Third Year of the Five-Year Plan,” poster, 1930. The ﬁ gures of three factory works are super-imposed to express the energy of the develop- ing ﬁ ve-year plan. 15–36 15–37

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15–38. Vladimir Vasilevich Lebedev, book cover, Tsirk (Circus), 1928.

15–39. Vladimir Vasilevich Lebedev, book spread, Tsirk (Circus), 1928.

15–40. Vladimir Vasilevich Lebedev, book spread, Tsirk (Circus), 1928.

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the father of the twentieth-century Russian picture book. a symbolic style influenced by Van Gogh that expressed the In such graphic masterpieces as Prikliucheniya chuch-lo (The forces of nature. It was then that he first saw cubist paintings. Adventures of the Scarecrow, 1922), Azbuka (Alphabet Book, In early 1912 he relocated to Paris and began to introduce the 1925), Morozhenoe (Ice Cream, 1925), Okhota (The Hunt, 1925), vocabulary of cubism into his work. Over the next few years, Tsirk (Circus, 1925) (Figs. 15–38 through 15–40), Vchera i Mondrian purged his art of all representative elements and segodnya (Yesterday and Today, 1925), and Bagazh (Baggage, moved cubism toward a pure, geometric abstraction. When 1926), often in collaboration with the poet Samuil Marshak, war broke out in 1914, Mondrian was in Holland, and he Lebedev devised a flexible, modernist shorthand for figures remained there during the war. that he reduced to their simplest shapes against a vast white The philosopher M. H. J. Schoenmakers influenced Mondri- background and relieved only by bright, flat harmonious color an’s thinking. Schoenmakers defined the horizontal and the and some contrasting texture. Like his French contemporaries, vertical as the two fundamental opposites shaping our world, Lebedev cultivated “infantilism” in his work by borrowing the and called red, yellow, and blue the three principal colors. fresh, spontaneous, naive techniques of children’s art. “When Mondrian began to paint purely abstract paintings composed I make drawings for children,” he explained, “I try to recall of horizontal and vertical lines. He believed the cubists had my own consciousness as a child.” He was also extraordinarily not accepted the logical consequences of their discoveries; inventive with various typefaces. Lebedev, more than anyone this was the evolution of abstraction toward its ultimate goal, else, brought the picture book up to date. the expression of pure reality. Mondrian believed true real- Freeing his designs of any gratuitous detail, Lebedev illus- ity in visual art “is attained through dynamic movement in trated Marxist parables on the superiority of the Soviet system equilibrium . . . established through the balance of unequal to capitalism. Lebedev was an agitational propagandist at heart. but equivalent oppositions. The clarification of equilibrium But a good communist, he insisted, “doesn’t deny the necessity through plastic art is of great importance for humanity. . . . of an individual approach to illustrations. And the more the art- It is the task of art to express a clear vision of reality.” ist shows his personality in his work, the more eff ective will his For a time in the late 1910s, paintings and designs by art be, the deeper it will infl uence the reader, the closer it will Mondrian, Van der Leck, and Van Doesburg were quite simi- bring him to art.” The Communist Party thought otherwise. lar. They reduced their visual vocabulary to the use of primary During the Great Purges of the 1930s, Pravda denounced Leb- colors (red, yellow, and blue) with neutrals (black, gray, and edev’s picture books for their “formalism,” and he was forced to white), straight horizontal and vertical lines, and flat planes capitulate to the dictates of socialist realism, the state-supported limited to rectangles and squares. style, by replacing his hard-edged designs with lush, benign With their prescribed visual vocabulary, De Stijl artists fl uff . He always regretted the compromise. sought an expression of the mathematical structure of the During the years immediately following the 1917 revolu- universe and the universal harmony of nature. They were tion, the Soviet government had tolerated advanced art while deeply concerned with the spiritual and intellectual climate more urgent problems commanded its attention, but by 1922, of their time and wished to express the “general consciousness it accused experimental artists of “capitalist cosmopolitan- of their age.” They believed the war was expunging an obsolete ism” and instead advocated social-realist painting. Although age, and that science, technology, and political developments constructivism lingered as an influence in Soviet graphic and would usher in a new era of objectivity and collectivism. industrial design, painters like Malevich who did not leave This attitude was widespread during World War I, for many the country drifted into poverty and obscurity. Like Klutsis, European philosophers, scientists, and artists believed prewar many artists vanished into the gulag. However, constructivism values had lost their relevance. De Stijl sought the universal underwent further development in the West, and innova- laws that govern visible reality but are hidden by the outward tive graphic design in the constructivist tradition continued appearance of things. Scientific theory, mechanical produc- through the 1920s and beyond. tion, and the rhythms of the modern city formed from these universal laws. De Stijl In the Dutch language, schoon means both “pure” and The De Stijl movement was launched in the Netherlands in “beautiful.” De Stijl adherents believed beauty arose from the the late summer of 1917. Its founder and guiding spirit, Théo absolute purity of the work. They sought to purify art by ban- van Doesburg (1883–1931), was joined by painters Piet Mon- ning naturalistic representation, external values, and subjective drian (1872–1944), Bart Anthony van der Leck (1876–1958), and expression. The content of their work was to be universal har- Vilmos Huszár (1884–1931), the architect Jacobus Johannes mony, the order that pervades the universe. Mondrian produced Pieter Oud (1890–1963), and others. Working in an abstract a body of paintings of incomparable spiritual and formal qual- geometric style, De Stijl artists sought universal laws of bal- ity. His compositions of asymmetrical balance, with tension ance and harmony for art, which could then be a prototype between elements, achieved absolute harmony (Fig. 15–41). The for a new social order. implications for modern design proved to be immense. Mondrian’s paintings are the wellspring from which A 1925 cover (Fig. 15–42) by Van Doesburg in collaboration De Stijl’s philosophy and visual forms developed. By 1911 with Hungarian artist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946) for the Mondrian had moved from traditional landscape painting to former’s book Grundbegriffe der neuen gestaltenden (Principles

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15–41. Piet Mondrian, oil on canvas, Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue, 1927.

15–42. Théo van Doesburg and Lasz- lo Moholy-Nagy, book cover, 1925. The essence of De Stijl is conveyed.

15–43

of Modern Design) shows the direct application of the De Stijl vocabulary to graphic design. Even before the movement formed, Van der Leck used flat, geometric shapes of pure color and created graphic designs with flat color images and simple black bars organizing the space (Figs. 15–43 and 15–44). Van Doesburg applied De Stijl principles to architecture, sculpture, and typography. He edited and published the journal De Stijl from 1917 until his death in 1931. Primarily funded with his own limited resources, this publication spread the movement’s theory and philosophy to a larger audience. De Stijl advocated the absorption of pure art by applied art. The spirit of art could then permeate society through architectural, product, and graphic design. Under this system, art would not be subjugated to the level of the everyday object; the everyday object (and, through it, everyday life) would be elevated to 15–41 the level of art. De Stijl became a natural vehicle for expressing the movement’s principles in graphic design. Huszár designed a logo for De Stijl with letters constructed from an open grid of squares and rectangles (Fig. 15–45) and also designed some of the early title pages (Fig. 15–46). In 1921 Van Doesburg developed a new horizontal format (Figs. 15–47 and 15–48) that was used until the last issue, published in 1932. (Mondrian stopped contributing articles to the journal in 1924, after Van Doesburg developed his theory of elementarism, which declared the diagonal to be a more dynamic compositional principle than horizontal and vertical construction.) In designs of alphabets and posters, Van Doesburg applied horizontal and vertical structure to letterforms and the overall layout (Fig. 15–49). Curved lines were eliminated and sans- serif typefaces were favored. Type was often composed in tight rectangular blocks. The square was used as a rigorous module for letterform design. A harmony of form was achieved, but banishing curved and diagonal lines diminished character uniqueness and legibility. Asymmetrically balanced layouts 15–42 were composed on an open implied grid. Color was used not

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15–43. Bart van der Leck, layout for Batavier Line poster, 1915–16. In a series of preliminary layouts, Van der Leck struggled to bring order to the design by dividing the space into rectangles.

15–44. Bart van der Leck, Batavier 15–44 Line poster, 1916. Flat pure color and bold horizontal and vertical spatial 15–45. Vilmos Huszár, cover design divisions build the design. Because of for De Stijl, 1917. Huszár combined World War I, this poster could not be his composition with type and Van used: the shipping lines between the Doesburg’s logo to create a concise Netherlands and the United Kingdom rectangle in the center of the page. were severed. When it was eventually employed during the 1920s the text 15–46. Vilmos Huszár, title pages for and colors were changed, infuriating De Stijl, 1918. Huszár presented a Van der Leck. This example is the fi rst positive/negative fi gure/ground study printing of the poster and refl ects the in spatial relationships. Restrained ty- original design of the artist. pography marked Apollinaire’s death.

15–45 15–46

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15–47 15–48

15–50

15–47. Théo van Doesburg, cover 15–49. Théo van Doesburg, cover for De Stijl, 1922. Type is asymmetri- for Klassiek, Barok, Moderne (Classic, cally balanced in the four corners Baroque, Modern), 1920. For this of an implied rectangle. De Stijl is book cover, Van Doesburg used his combined with the letters N and B, own letterforms. which indicated Nieuwe Beelden (New Images). 15–50. Théo van Doesburg and Kurt Schwitters, “Kleine Dada Soirée,” 15–49 15–48. Théo van Doesburg, adver- poster, 1922. This poster illustrates tisements and announcements from the Dada side of Van Doesburg’s De Stijl, 1921. Five messages are artistic personality. uniﬁ ed by a system of open bars and sans-serifs typography.

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15–51 15–52

as an afterthought or decoration but as an important structural element. Red was favored as a second color in printing because, in addition to its graphic power to compete with black, it signified revolution. Van Doesburg comprehended the liberating potential of Dada and invited Kurt Schwitters to Holland to campaign for it. They collaborated on typographic design projects (Fig. 15–50), and Van Doesburg explored Dada typography and poetry, which he published in De Stijl under the pseudonym I. K. Bonset (Fig. 15–51). He saw Dada and De Stijl as opposite but complementary movements: Dada could destroy the old order, and then De Stijl could build a new order on the razed site of prewar culture. In 1922 he convened an International Congress of Constructivists and Dadaists in Weimar. One of the constructivists attending was El Lissitzky, who designed an issue of De Stijl (Fig. 15–52). In architectural experiments, Van Doesburg constructed 15–53 planes in space with dynamic asymmetrical relationships. De Stijl architectural theory was realized in 1924 when Gerrit Rietveld (1888–1964) designed the celebrated Schroeder House in Utrecht (Fig. 15–53). This house was so radical that neigh- bors threw rocks, and the Schroeder children were taunted by their classmates at school. The following year, Oud designed the Café de Unie (Fig. 15–54) with an asymmetrical façade, projecting De Stijl’s vision of order on an environmental scale. Because Van Doesburg, with his phenomenal energy and wide-ranging creativity, was De Stijl, it is understandable that 15–51. Théo van Doesburg, Dadaist De Stijl as an organized movement did not survive his death poetry from De Stijl, 1921. Type size, in 1931 at age forty-seven. However, others continued to use weight, and style can be interpreted its visual vocabulary for many years; for example, Van der vocally when reading the poem aloud. Leck’s open compositions of forms constructed of horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines and shapes separated by spatial 15–52. El Lissitzky, cover of De Stijl, intervals are found in works ranging from early posters 1922. Van Doesburg invited Lissitzky (see Fig. 15–43) to book designs and illustrations of the 1940s to design and edit an issue of De Stijl (Figs. 15–55 and 15–56). that reprinted the original Russian In 1918, the Dutch architect Wijdeveld initiated the maga- publication “A Tale of Two Squares” zine Wendingen. It started as a monthly publication devoted in Dutch. to architecture, construction, and ornamentation, but during its thirteen years of existence it represented all sectors of the 15–53. Gerrit Rietveld, model for visual arts. Wijdeveld constructed his letters from existing the Schroeder House, Utrecht, 1924. typographic material and used the same technique in his A new architecture is composed of Wendingen covers, stationery designs, and posters. In the planes in a square.

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15–54. J. J. P. Oud, façade of the Café de Unie, Rotterdam, 1925. Oud successfully resolved problems of structure, signage, and identiﬁ ca- tion. Architectural and graphic forms of contrasting color and scale are ordered into a harmonious balance.

15–56

15–55. Bart Anthony van der Leck, exhibition poster, 1919. Moored in pictorial art, Van der Leck diverted De Stijl’s vocabulary toward elemental images.

15–56. Bart Anthony van der Leck, “Het vlas” (The Flax), 1941. This is a page from a children’s story by Hans Christian Andersen.

15–55 design of the Wendingen pages, Wijdeveld used solid and heavy borders constructed from right angles, typographic coun- terparts to the brick architecture of the Amsterdam school. This is amply evident in the design of his covers for the Frank Lloyd Wright issues of Wendingen (Fig. 15–57) and his 1929 poster announcing an International Exhibition on Economics at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (Fig. 15–58). Wijdeveld contributed only four Wendingen covers; the others were designed by various architects, sculptors, painters, and designers. The 1922 cover by El Lissitsky (Fig. 15–59) and the 1929 cover by Huszár (Fig. 15–60) are striking examples.

The spread of constructivism During World War I, Russian suprematism and the Dutch De Stijl movements were isolated from one another, yet both groups pushed cubism to a pure geometric art. After the war their ideas were adopted by artists in other countries, 15–54 including Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland. The Polish

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15–57. H. T. Wijdeveld, title page for Wendingen, no. 7-3, “The Lifework of Frank Lloyd Wright, part IV,” after a design by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1925.

15–58. H. T. Wijdeveld, Internationale Economisch-Historische Tentoonstelling (International Economic Historical Exhibition), poster, 1929. This poster reﬂ ects the brick architecture of the Amsterdam School.

15–58

15–57

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15–61. Henryk Berlewi, exhibition poster, 1925. This early application of mechano-faktura principles to graphic design is for an exhibition held in a Warsaw automobile showroom.

15–62. Henryk Berlewi, Plutos Chocolates brochure, page 6, 1925. Copywriter Aleksander Wat collaborated closely with Berlewi to integrate text and form.

15–63. Wladyslaw Strzeminski, cover for Z ponad, a collection of poems by Julian Przybos, 1930. The cover design is indicative of Strezeminski’s background as a constructivist painter. 15–59

15–60

designer Henryk Berlewi (1894–1967) was decisively influenced 15–59. El Lissitsky, cover for Wend- by Lissitzky’s 1920 Warsaw lectures. In 1922 and 1923, Berlewi ingen, no. 4-1, lithograph after a worked in Germany and began to evolve his mechano-faktura drawing by El Lissitsky, 1921. Lissitsky theory. Believing that modern art was filled with illusion- came to Germany from Russia at istic pitfalls, he mechanized painting and graphic design the end of 1921, and there is no (Fig. 15–61) into a constructed abstraction that abolished indication that he traveled to the any illusion of three dimensions. This was accomplished by Netherlands before the end of 1922. mathematical placement of simple geometric forms on a It is possible that Adolf Behne, a close ground. The mechanization of art was seen as an expression of friend of Lissitsky, asked Wijdeveld to industrial society. give Lissitsky this commission, his dire In 1924 Berlewi joined the futurist poets Aleksander Wat straits because of the time. and Stanley Brucz in opening a Warsaw advertising firm called Roklama Mechano. They introduced modern art forms 15–60. Vilmos Huszár, “Diego to Polish society in industrial and commercial advertisements. Rivera,” cover for Wendingen, no. Their brochure stated that advertising design and costs should 10-3, 1929. The forms on this cover be governed by the same principles that govern modern are inspired by Aztec architecture, and industry and the laws of economy. Advertising copy was the colors are those of the Mexican reorganized for conciseness and impact, and visual layout national ﬂ ag. was adapted to this text (Fig. 15–62). Berlewi hoped that

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15–61 15–62

commercial advertising could become a vehicle for abolishing the division between the artist and society. Wladyslaw Strzeminski (1893–1952) was also an avid propo- nent of constructivist page design in Poland. Having studied in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Strzeminski had been involved with Russsian constructivism in its early stages. Both a painter and writer on art theory, he worked with experimental typography during the 1920s and founded a modern typography school in Lodz during the early 1930s (Fig. 15–63). In Czechoslovakia, Ladislav Sutnar (1897–1976) became the leading supporter and practitioner of functional design. He advocated the constructivist ideal and the application of design principles to every aspect of contemporary life. In addition to graphics, the prolific Prague designer created toys, furniture, silverware, dishes, and fabrics. The publishing house Druzstevni Prace retained Sutnar as design director. 15–63 His book jackets and editorial designs evinced an organizational simplicity and typographic clarity, giving graphic impact to the communication (Figs. 15–64 through 15–66).

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15–65

Karel Teige (1900–51), also from Prague, was initially trained as a painter but early in his career began working in typography and photomontage as an enthusiastic advocate of international modernism. He was an active participant in Devetsil (Nine Forces), a group of avant-garde poets, designers, architects, performance artists, and musicians, and designed many of their publications using what was available in the letterpress printer’s type case. Founded in 1920, Devetsil 15–64 would eventually have as many as eighty members. Teige believed that the untrained practitioner could contribute a fresh and innovative approach to design, and from 1922 until 1938 he designed over one hundred books and periodicals. His constructivist approach involved an expressive use of type, montage, collage, and borrowed clips from silent films (Figs. 15–67 and 15–68). He was the editor of several avant-garde magazines, including Disk, Zeme sovetu, Stavba, and ReD. A social idealist, he believed that good design could help resolve the differences between capitalist America and the communist Soviet Union. After his own country fell to communism in 1948, the new authorities considered him to be too egalitarian 15–64. Ladislav Sutnar, cover design and cosmopolitan. They banned him from working as a writer for Ženení a vdávání (Getting Mar- and designer, and he died three years later. ried), 1929. The triangle creates In 1919, after completing law studies in Budapest, Hungar- a strong focal point, uniﬁ es the ian artist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy turned to nonrepresentational silhouette ﬁ gures, and becomes the painting influenced by Malevich. In 1921 he moved to Berlin, main structural element in a delicately where Lissitzky, Schwitters, and Van Doesburg were frequent balanced composition. visitors to his studio. His design for Arthur Müller Lehning’s Amsterdam-based avant-garde publication i10—one of the 15–65. Ladislav Sutnar, cover design purest examples of De Stijl principles applied to typography— for Samuel hledající (Samuel the demonstrates the collaboration of constructivism, De Stijl, Seeker), 1931. Sutnar uses photomon- and Merz. De Stijl member César Domela (1900–92) assisted tage and directional text to create Moholy-Nagy in the cover design (Fig. 15–69). The printer strong composition. was initially disturbed by the complete disregard for the rules

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15–66

15–68

15–66. Ladislav Sutnar, cover of Nejmenší dum (Minimum Housing), 1931.

15–67. Karel Teige, cover for Disk, no. 1, 1923. Disk was one of several avant-garde publications edited and designed by Teige.

15–68. Karel Teige, cover for Moderni architektura v ceskoslovensku (Mod- ern Czechoslovakian Architecture), 15–67 1930.

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of typography, as shown in the opening page of the premiere issue (Fig. 15–70), but eventually he came to understand and appreciate the design. (In 1980, i10 publisher/editor Lehning told Philip B. Meggs that although the i10 cover is often attrib- uted to Domela, Lehning’s recent retrieval of Moholy-Nagy’s cover layouts indicates major responsibility should be credited to him.) The quest for a pure art of visual relationships that began in the Netherlands and Russia remained a major influence for the visual disciplines throughout the twentieth century. One of the dominant directions in graphic design has been the use of geometric construction in organizing the printed page. Malevich and Mondrian used pure line, shape, and color to create a universe of harmoniously ordered, pure relationships. This was seen as a visionary prototype for a new world order. The unification of social and human values, technology, and visual form became a goal for those who strove for a new architecture and graphic design.

15–69

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15–69. Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, cover design for i10, 1929. The designer saw type as form and texture to be composed with a rectangle, lines, and spatial intervals to achieve dynamic equilibrium. Clarity of communication and harmony of form are achieved.

15–70. Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, title page spread for i10, 1927. The printer was deeply disturbed by this design, with its words running vertically, bold sans-serif type placed into serif text for emphasis, bullets separating paragraphs, and bold bars next to page numbers.

15–70

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